Chinese And Japanese Problems From The Perspective Of Constructivism

In the 1980s, Constructivism was rising as a school of thought within the field of western international relations and was quickly utilized to explain many international political problems. Constructivism breaks through traditional patterns that are applied in international political theory and seeks to absorb some points of positivism. At the same time, constructivism sees the world as composed of matter and social constructions. In recent years, Sino-Japan tensions have received more attention from scholars both inside and outside the country who are seeking to discover new gaps in the existing research findings. This article attempts to apply Constructivism to explain the problems in the Sino-Japan relationship. It seeks further reasons that lead to contradictions between China and Japan today and focuses on ways to resolve these conflicts. First of all, promoting regional integration can be seen as an effective method to resolve problems and current regional contradictions. In the 21st century, ideal norms or regulation will be a restriction and a limiting factor on relationships among countries. Realists however, believe that norms are not as important as power and interests, and that such norms are useless for dealing with international relationships. Second of all, correct part identity also will help to improve a nation's relationships. In addition, a third another factor to improve the international relationship is to construct a communication mechanism to promote mutual trust between China and Japan, as lack of trust is a key factor that leads to the contradictions and conflicts between both countries. Although constructivism stresses social structure, it does not deny that the matter factor is an important part in the process of dealing with problems. After addressing these three aspects, the conclusion of the article puts forward some ideas on how to deal with the Sino-Japan problems.